These Earl Grey sugar cookies are incredibly soft, melt-in-your-mouth, and slightly chewy. The cookie dough comes together in less than 10 minutes and is the perfect treat year-round! Interested in more sugar cookie recipes? Try out my chewy strawberry sugar cookies, easy red velvet sugar cookies, and jasmine sugar cookies!
Love these cookies? Pair them with my London fog latte!
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🍪 Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s perfect for Earl Grey lovers! The cookie dough uses 2 tablespoon of Earl Grey tea leaves, or about 3 tea bags worth.
- The cookies melt in your mouth. The cookies are SUPER soft and buttery, kind of like those iconic grocery store sugar cookies… but better.
- You won’t need any special equipment. Simply mix everything in one bowl with a silicone spatula, then bake.
Looking for more easy cookie recipes? Try out my basic sugar cookies, cute lemon sugar cookies, and mini chocolate chip cookies!
Ingredients
To make Earl Grey Cookies from scratch, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- They key ingredient here is Earl Grey. I used loose leaf tea from a local tea shop, although any brand of Earl Grey tea will work. I prefer the texture of the leaves, but you can use finer tea or grind it for a smoother result.
- Melted unsalted butter makes the cookie dough really easy to mix by hand.
- I like to use a mix of brown sugar and granulated sugar to create the perfect balance of flavor and chew.
- Adding in both baking powder and baking soda gives us the exact texture and rise we’re aiming for!
- You can use either vanilla extract or vanilla paste (1:1) in this recipe.
Looking for a basic sugar cookie recipe? Try out my cute bunny sugar cookies!
For the full list of ingredients and measurements, see the recipe card below.
💡 Baking Tips
- Weigh your ingredients! One of my favorite kitchen tools is a kitchen scale because it’s more accurate than measuring by volume. If you use cups, spoon the flour in gently, then level it with a knife or spatula.
- If chilling the dough for longer than 30 minutes, I pre-scoop cookie dough into balls, closely line them on a parchment tray, and chill them. When it’s time to bake, I break off the dough balls, roll them in sugar, and bake. Pre-scooping is easier on my hands and wrists than working with chilled, firmer dough.
- For rounder cookies, place a large circular cutter or mug on top of a freshly baked, warm cookie. Move it around in a circular motion until your cookie is perfectly round! This step is totally optional and purely for plating purposes! 🙂
How to Make Soft Earl Grey Sugar Cookies
Step 1: Combine butter and tea leaves. Fully melt in a pan or in the microwave at 15-second intervals. Transfer to mixing bowl and let tea-infused butter cool to room temperature.
Step 2: Stir sugars until combined, then mix in egg and vanilla.
Step 3: Add in dry ingredients and mix until no dry spots remain. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 days. Use a cookie scoop (2-3 tablespoon capacity) to gather dough, then roll into granulated sugar. Place cookie dough balls on lined baking sheet about 3 inches apart.
Step 4: Bake at 325°F/162°C for 10-13 minutes or until the edges are set and lightly golden. Remove from the oven let cookies sit on baking tray for at least 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to fully cool.
For full instructions, see the recipe card below.
“Insanely delish—I LOVE them!” – cookie taste tester 🍪
Earl Grey Sugar Cookie FAQs
Earl Grey is a black tea infused with bergamot orange. It is often described to be a bold tasting tea with hints of lemon, spice, and malt.
Yes, although it wouldn’t be a sugar cookie anymore!
You can add around ½-1 cup of mix-ins, like white or dark chocolate chips. If you’d like to flavor the dough and enhance the citrusy flavor, you can massage the zest of one small lemon with the sugars until fragrant, then mix it with your tea-infused butter.
They can last at room temperature in an airtight container for up 5 days. See my storage instructions on how to freeze Earl Grey cookies.
As of right now, this is my first recipe using Earl Grey tea! I have more ideas in mind, but let me know in the comments what you’d like to see.
Otherwise, I do have a LOT of delicious matcha recipes! Some classics include my easy matcha latte, vegan matcha sugar cookies, and matcha cream buns.
Storage
- Room temperature: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Freezing instructions: Store cooled cookies in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. You can also freeze cookie dough balls for up to 3 months and bake from frozen, adding 2-3 minutes to the bake time.
- Reheating instructions: Allow frozen (already baked) cookies to thaw at room temperature for about 10 minutes. Or, reheat in the microwave at 10-second intervals.
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Thank you so much! -Bianca ❤️
📖 Recipe & Video
Soft Earl Grey Sugar Cookies
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Equipment
- 1 small bowl or plate for rolling dough in sugar
- 1 medium mixing bowl for dry ingredients
- 1 large mixing bowl for mixing dough
- 1 Medium cookie scoop 2-3 tablespoon capacity
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups (187.5 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (3 g) fine sea salt or fine sea salt
Wet ingredients:
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 2 tablespoons (10 g) earl grey tea leaves about 3 tea bags
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (55 g) light or dark brown sugar packed
- 1 tablespoon (4 g) vanilla extract or paste
- 1 (1) egg room temperature
For rolling:
- 4 tablespoons (48 g) granulated sugar
Instructions
For the cookie dough:
- Add ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter and 2 tablespoons (10 g) earl grey tea leaves into a saucepan and heat until melted. Alternatively, melt in a microwave-safe bowl in 15-second intervals. Let fully cool.
- In a large bowl, use silicone spatula to mix melted earl grey-infused butter, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar, and ¼ cup (55 g) light or dark brown sugar until combined.
- Mix in 1 egg and 1 tablespoon (4 g) vanilla until smooth.
- Add in all of the dry ingredients: 1 ½ cups (187.5 g) all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking powder, ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking soda, and ½ teaspoon (3 g) fine sea salt. Mix until no dry spots remain.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes, or up to 2 days. Tip: When I do longer chill times, I like to pre-scoop cookie dough into balls, closely line them on a parchment tray, and chill them. When it's time to bake, I break off the dough balls, roll them in sugar, and bake. Pre-scooping is easier on my hands and wrists than working with chilled, firmer dough.
Scoop & bake cookies:
- Preheat oven to 325°F/163°C and line two baking trays with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl or plate, add 4 tablespoons (48 g) granulated sugar for rolling the dough.
- Use cookie dough scoop to gather dough (2-3 tablespoons). Roll into granulated sugar and place on lined baking tray, spacing cookies about 3-4 inches apart.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until edges are slightly golden brown and set. Cool cookies on pan for 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!TIP: For rounder cookies, place a large circular cutter or mug on top of a freshly baked, warm cookie. Move it around in a circular motion until your cookie is perfectly round! This step is totally optional and purely for plating purposes! 🙂
Notes
- Weigh your ingredients! One of my favorite kitchen tools is a kitchen scale because it’s more accurate than measuring by volume. If you use cups, spoon the flour in gently, then level it with a knife or spatula.
- Room temperature: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Freezing instructions: Store cooled cookies in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. You can also freeze cookie dough balls for up to 3 months and bake from frozen, adding 2-3 minutes to the bake time.
- Reheating instructions: Allow frozen (already baked) cookies to thaw at room temperature for about 10 minutes. Or, reheat in the microwave at 10-second intervals.
i loved this adorable recipe. the earl grey flavor was perfect. it was also super simple to follow with all household ingredients. i will say, and i think this may be user error because I’m a novice baker, they came out a bit too sweet for me. I used measuring cups not a scale so I may have added too much sugar! i also noticed while I heated the butter in my sauce pan, i went a little too low and slow, browning the butter. it may have caused some water loss making the recipe overall sweeter. also, i used parchment on non stick and wasn’t sure when to pull out the cookies, causing them to crisp up a bit on the bottom. i think next batch (I have half the dough left) I’ll try to pull out the cookies a bit sooner to preserve the softness, and i won’t roll in sugar 🙂 i want to try this recipe again !!!
This recipe was just so so so fragrant!! No other recipes can capture the flavour of earl grey as good as this one.
I made an exact batch of 12. All of it was gone by the end of the day. Even my little sister – who’s insanely picky – said they were yummy. 🤤
Genuinely my favorite cookies to make. I have swapped out earl grey for matcha with dried strawberry bits, and also jasmine tea as well. Both were soooo delicious and everyone I have ever made these for have absolutely loved them.
Hi Faith! What an awesome comment, thank you for sharing :’) That sounds AMAZING!!! So happy to hear.
Awesome I have made these several times now. Today, I had only extra large eggs & it turned out eggy! Just for information. I have a convection oven now. A little confused about the oven temperature. Can someone let me know the correct temperature for a convection oven & the baking time. Thank you.
Hi Jay, thank you so much for your comment! Thank you for letting me to know about the extra large eggs 🙂
Convection ovens typically run hotter than conventional ovens. So I would drop the temperature by 25F, keep the baking time, but check for visual cues: the cookie edges should be slightly golden brown and set.
Please let me know if you have any more questions. happy baking!
Did follow your instructions. Baked for 10 minutes the 1st batch & 9 minutes the second batch. They turned out delicious. Thank you very much much.
Hi Jay! Yay! That makes me so happy to hear. Glad you enjoyed!!! 🙂
Any other suggestions instead of rolling cookies in sugar? Thank you!!
Hi Candi! You can omit rolling them in sugar completely. But you can also roll them in sprinkles or chopped nuts for fun and a slight crunch!
These cookies were delicious and super easy to make. Everyone I shared them with loved them… even the people who were initially skeptical because they weren’t familiar with Earl Grey. I’ve already made them twice!
Dear Bianca
I woke up 2 nights ago from a dream in a cold sweat. What was that dreak about, you ask? Earl Grey cookies. I was in a baking class mixing up a batch of them and I was salivating over the results. I knew when I awoke that i HAD to make these cookies. So off to the internet I went. Your recipe seemed perfect, and so the scene was set. To my surprise and delight, the dough looked JUST LIKE it did in the dream. I giggled and slapped my feet together in delight. Off to the oven they went and soon thereafter into the mouths of my friends, roommates, and me. The wonderful cookies tickled our tastebuds and we screamed at the triumph. All I have to say Bianca is: Thank you for making my dream come true.
Oz
Oz… this review was so incredible I posted it on my Instagram feed HAHA. Thank you so much for writing this saga.
To be completely transparent, I’ve been having a hard past couple of days, and your comment absolutely made my day. <3
I have never left a review before, but these cookies are INSANE. I’ve made them 4 times in the last month, and multiple people said it’s the best cookie they’ve ever had. My family is obsessed thank you for blessing us with this recipe
Hi Elise! OMGGG that just made my entire week! Thank you so much for your kind comment, so glad to hear you all love them!!!!!!!! :’)